TUM Graduate School (TUM-GS) is the central institution for doctoral candidates and supervisors at the Technical University of Munich. It promotes structured training for doctoral candidates, and collaborates with the degree-awarding institutions at TUM to provide the best possible supervision. TUM-GS was founded in 2009 based on the model of the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE) funded by the Excellence Initiative, and is the only one of its kind in Germany thanks to its comprehensive, university-wide format. As of 2014, all TUM doctoral candidates are automatically part of the TUM-GS, and benefit from extensive qualification and continued education programs as well as target group-specific services and advising.